Warm Summer Nights
by whostommy
Summary: Marshall lee realizes how much Fionna means to him and tries to come to grips with it on these warm summer nights
1. Warm Summer Nights

The scene opens on a tree house in the sweltering heat of summer. The slim branches of the old willow hang green and still as the blue and cloudless vault over head looks down upon the green, windless grasslands. Far off in the distance a shining mountain range is dripping ice cold water as it's main resident is too put out by the heat to reinforce her ice kingdom.

A figure in a long black cloak wearing a large brimmed shady hat with pulled down over his eyes makes his way to the lone tree house, converse covered feet floating a few inches off the ground on his way.

Marshalls POV:

"It"s too damn hot to think" I thought to myself as I drifted my way over to the tree house I built, now inhabited by a certain bunny rabbit and her feline. I had hurried on the way over but now that I was in eyesight of the tree house didn't want to seem like I was in a hurry.

It was the hottest day in the hottest month in the hottest season in the land of Aaa. Back when I was young it was referred to as the dog days of summer but any one who had called it that but me and a few other immortals were long dead. Which brings me back to the reason I was going to the treehouse during the middle of the day in the first place. Usually, during this kind of heat, when the ground is still warm long after the sun has set, I like to stay cool and asleep deep underneath the ground in my own cave far from the reaches of the sun. But on this particular day, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't put my mind at ease. From trying to watch some old, warped, VHS tapes to playing sour notes on my usually calming bass everything just seemed...off.

On the outside, I, of course, blamed it on the pervasive heat. But in all reality, I had been kind of funny for the past 3 and 1/2 weeks, or to be precise, since Lumpy Space Prince's party when I last saw Fionna.

I had rehashed what had happened so many times in my head I could write a dissertation on it .

Pt. 1 After hearing that Lumpy Space Prince was having a party in the woods I decide to pay Fionna a visit and ask her to come with me, thinking it would be a nice change of pace seeing as how, after she attended one of my bands shows she was rather shaken up by the amount of people there, the general chaos and the vampire punks' nasty habit of setting fire to the mosh pit. And as it's raining out and nearing twilight I can go out with regular clothes .

Pt. 2 Having reached the treehouse, before I can burst through a window and scare and unsuspecting fionna, I discover a certain candy prince making his way to the door with a purple tupperware of pastries. I watch as he reaches the front door and proceeds to ever so confidently let himself in. I begin to get progressively more and more pissed as he walks up to the second floor landing. I wonder to myself what kind of terms he and fionna are on that he would dare just let himself in.

Pt. 3 I have to stuff my shirt in my mouth to keep from losing my mind laughing when fionna nearly decapitates him out of surprise. Turns out it was just his superiority complex that deemed him too good too knock. Feeling tired of just waiting outside the window in the rain I decide to make my entrance. Faster than humanly possible (but simply too easy for a vampire, let alone the damn king) I suck the low grade red out of the sickly sweet pastries and blast out of the opposite's window too the roof. As I situate myself to a comfortable position and unsling my bass from over my back I hear bickering from below. I begin to pick out a few notes, I had had an idea forming for a song for the past couple of days but it just wasn't coming together. I hear heavy steps ascending the rungs of the ladder to the roof and nearly lose it again when I see a miffed looking bunny struggling up the steps with his "oh so precious" royal highness slung across her shoulders and a damp looking cat in the top of her bunny hat. I can't help but resent Gumball a bit for making Fionna carry his ass all the way up that slippery ladder. I may be an asshole but is he really so self obsessed. I know all too well that a simple fall could break her back and cripple her for life, or worse, her neck, killing her instantly. Kind of morose, I know, but when you're born to feast on the entrails of the weak and guzzle the blood of the enemy and then chose to spend you're days wandering around the top world playing guitar and filling your days with teasing the last human in existence these thoughts do tend to crop up.

Pt. 4 With "His Fussiness" out of the way Fionna seems to loosen up and I decide to take the opportunity to tell her about the party. When she hears me I can see the conflicting feelings on her face. On the one hand she is excited about the idea of a party after, from what I heard, was a standard sugary errand day for Mr. Goody Two Shoes. On the other hand I can see she is hesitant about just up and leaving Gumball, so before the hesitant side can get the better of her I decide to just pick her up and run off before she can make up her mind. From her happy whoop and laughing I can tell I made the right choice.

Pt. 5 As we went through the sky over the forest to where LSP's party was, the rain started letting up. Off on the horizon the suns last orange and yellow rays were shining golden on the dark blue and purple retreating rain clouds. It was a beautiful sight, the suns rays in this kind of dilution couldn't do me much harm. In fact the light sting almost made me feel like my heart could beat again. As Fionna turned in my arms to see the sunset I could hear her draw in a breath at the gorgeous sight. A hour or two after the sun had fully set we touched down at LSP's party as I took a look around it didn't seem too wild or crazy, I mean, old man Treetrunks was in attendance for God's sake. I thought about what my reaction to a serene scene like this would have been before I met Fionna and laugh to myself. On the outside my body almost never changed, now that I had reached my prime the only future changes I could forsee was my hair getting longer and maybe growing another inch taller. But on the inside my soul had lit up brighter than I could ever remember. It was as if a door had opened somewhere in my mind into a hallway full of other doors, and behind all those were emotions and ideas I had never known were possible for me. All because of this one last human, a lone light in my dim, grey life. Humans had always been a favorite of vampires. To demons like my mother and at least half of me who live on souls on the bonds of contracts formed others all souls taste pretty much the same. But it seemed I had inherited at least a little of my late father's vampire sensibilities and eating habits with my main hunger being for red and by my favoritism for Fiona. Humans were not only the choice food for vampires but were also kept as pets or in some cases, companions. The real trick of it was the keeping them alive as not many immortal beings have the patience for caring for a mortal. Then there was also the danger of become attached to said mortal involved. I should say I use the term "immortal" very lightly, nothing can live forever, not vampires, demons, ice queens or wish masters. But our half lives can stretch on long enough and you can lose so many and hurt so much that over time it can feel that way. Anyway, my _nearly_ deathless existence aside the evening went by much too fast for my taste.

Pt. 6 It was around midnight as I looked Fionna mingling after staying about a yard next to me or nearer for the previous half of the night. I don't think she was afraid or anything like that, just a little awkward in social situations in general. Someone who preferred hobby is slaying ogres and exploring dungeons probably hasn't bothered with too many parties in their day. Either way as I looked at her with the light of the red lanterns shining off her gold bangs and bounding off the innocent watery pools of her eyes as the sugar skull butterflies fluttered around particularly her, for some weird reason. I felt like a mental damn I had built between Fionna and I had, without my knowing it, just received it's last blow. It was one of those moments in your life when something important has been changing ever so slowly for ever so long but you only catch the gist of it at some random moment and for me it was this, this random moment at this peaceful party looking at this human who without even knowing or trying had completely rendered me helpless. It had finally occurred to me then that when Fionna died it was going to wreck me like nothing I had ever experienced before. At some point in the much too near future I was going to lose someone I had opened my heart to more than everyone else in my life combined. I thought of our first meeting where I kicked her out of the treehouse, me watching her and cake build a new house in the cave I now lived in. Of that breath of life that she sent my way while fighting after thinking that I drained her cat and of me kissing her playfully while she turned a deeper red than a strawberry. I thought of when we jammed in my house and I decided to sing the song I had wrote about my mother all those years ago but had never sang. I thought about us running with wolves and ditching the movies together. I realized, much too late for me to do anything about it, that I loved Fionna

Pt. 7 As you can imagine I was a bit distressed by what I had uncovered in myself. I didn't really know what to do, so floated over to her and grabbed her hand and began to make my way over to the stage since I had been asked by _every...damn...partyguest _when I was going to sing a song. Once we were on stage I picked the same notes I had had stuck in my head all day and suddenly it all came together and I had an idea of what to sing

_Good little girl,_

_What do you want from my world?_


	2. End of the Night

_I'm a Thousand years old Girl, I know I'm a Riddle._

_Bad Little Boy, yes, I'm bad but not Little_

Marshall lee's POV:

Let's see, now where were we... ah yeah, the last half of the night.

Pt. 8 As I strummed my bass and told Fionna follow my lead I began to come back to the present little by little. As nervewrenching as it is to realize I let myself become attached to someone who's life would be over and done before a complete century dawned, granted that she died from natural causes and wasn't killed before that. But as they say, the show must go on. As she took off her ever-present bunny hat even I let out a breath at how astounding she was, coupled with that soft, sweet singing voice she has. Everyone watching was just as much of a goner as I was.

Pt. 9 I just earned my bachelors in assholery. I"ll admit it, for me it's kind of a way of life. As I walk after her trying to get her to come back I wonder why I'm trying so damn hard. Why shouldn't I just let her walk off, it's never been my nature to be apologetic or anything like whatever _this _is. I mean, it's not like it's going to make it any easier if she does come back, just a few more fleeting moments to add to the crappy scrapbook of my life after she's gone.

Pt. 10 Even as I grab Cake out of her arms I know I'm going to regret it later and that just fuels the fire. I always find a way to take it just one step further, my one endearing quality. I don't know why it set me off when she said, "Look, I don't care if you're a jerk to me, but _nobody _messes with cake." Maybe it was the not-so-indirect jerk comment. It might have been the fact that she said she didn't _care_ when I was a jerk to her. Either way it was enough to light a fire under the not-so-inner jackass in me.

Pt. 11 It's not a very well known fact but raising the dead is not as hard as hack magicians and 3rd rate demons make it out to be, the real trick of it is they have to be unhappy dead. You know the kind, soldiers who died fighting for a cause they didn't believe in, lovers torn apart by all those inconvenient circumstances that life can bring. Anyway putting aside the agendas of the whiney dead it's pretty easy to raise them since they never really ascend in the first place and if they don't have enough will in them to even summon the wateriest of apparitions they can be bent to whatever your will is with almost frightening ease. What Lumpy Space Prince is doing having a party just outside of a graveyard full of pissed off corpses I'm not sure. But either way it provides a little more fun for me as I find new ways to fuck with Fionna's head as much as she does to me without even realizing.

Pt. 12 As I lay, skewered by a spear, shirt filled with gray cream puffs, I can't help but feel a little ridiculous. How far would I go just to get a little bit of real-honest-to-God attention from this one oblivious kid. I mean, female demons used to literally throw themselves at my feet, (along with a surprising number of male ones, makes me wonder what kind of a vibe I give off.) Maybe it's because I'm a king, I'd like to think it's the simple fact that, as far as underworld virtues go, I'm awesome. But here, a pudgy bunny, who has no idea what kind of a rap sheet I've got racked up, continues to hang around me but refuses to take me seriously at all..._shit_... Ah well, I figure, as long as I'm going this far I might as well take it a step further and go for the fucking Oscar.

_Admit it Fionna, you're in love with me_

_Look, I get that you flirt with me all the time and it's funny and whatever, But you're doing this now? What are you trying to do to my head! You think I've got some little crush on you?_

_Well for however long we've got left... FOR ONCE DROP IT YOU FREAK!_

_Ah, faking it, faking it! OK my shirt is like, filled with cream puffs!_

_Glob Fionna, you're like the realest person I've ever met._

_*BAM*_

_Ow! My cheek meat! Quit clowning Fionna...Fionna!_

Pt. 13 Even a vampire will feel a sting if somebody hits him that hard especially the person doing the hitting is an angry adventurer. I'll admit it, I didn't expect Fionna to call me on my bullshit, it was kind of nice in a weird way, sitting there with a bruised face and a sticky shirt as the sun started to rise. It was especially weird because I went from filled to bursting with piss and vinegar and wanting flip one to the world, to really stupidly happy in what must be record time. I was happy to be there, right here and now with Fionna (and Cake). I wasn't thinking about what to do when she died or how to trick myself into not caring so I would hurt less in the long run. I was here, she was here, and we both happy, and it was enough

Pt. 14 After sitting for a while the sun was almost completely up and I was starting to get slightly..._uncomfortable._ I tuned to Fionna and said " Hey bunny rabbit, I hope you have an idea for the three of us getting home because as far as flying goes I'm pretty much incapacitated and you better believe you're not ditching me."


	3. I'm Not Crying, My Eyes are Sweating

Marshall's POV:

Finished with my reminiscing, I closed the distance between myself and the tree house. When I reached the small porch hidden under the willow branches I found a sleeping cream and caramel colored cat with a fan in its hand. The shelter of the willow branches cooled off the porch a few degrees, and it was a great deal shadier than the hot plains outside.

After removing the heavy cloak and sun hat I had worn on the way over I lowered myself silently onto the porch next to the cat. Upon closer inspection I noticed that she had a rather enticing looking bowl of cherries sitting next to her. I decided that there wasn't much harm in helping myself, especially after taking all the trouble to come over here in the daylight after all. I made short work of the cherries and thus sated rose and started to float up into the tree house to find my favorite distraction.

Gliding through the tree house it didn't take a genius to see that Fiona and Cake had made this place much more alive than it had ever been with Ashley and I in it. The frantic energy of two angry, hormonal demons was an echo in a tomb compared to the warm kind of nest the current residents had made it into. No matter how hard we tried Ashley and I could never live in a place and not ruin it for each other.

I remembered after I had kicked Fionna out how I had nearly had a panic attack after an hour or two of playing around and going through drawers. In the middle of going through a bathroom cabinet it had occurred to me how empty the whole treehouse was with no one but me in it, without my footsteps on the floor the entire treehouse seemed deathly silent. Normally in such silence a person might hear their blood rush in their ears or their heart thud in their chest, but I, as you know, had no such luxury.

With a familiar sinking feeling settling in my stomach I floated into the living room sat down on the spot where the old Lay-Z-Boy Ashley and I dragged in had been. I hugged my legs and put my head down on my knees like a kid and felt waves of panic wash over me. I don't remember how long I sat there for, just trying to keep it together. "Even this," I thought to myself, "some empty relationship with a power hungry witch manages to go to hell." " And the best fucking part is she manages take the only thing from the last person to ever love me from me on her way out." I looked up from my knees and set my eyes on a shield propped up on the other side of the room. I looked at my reflection, eyes tinged red by tears I'm still don't really want to admit to. "Fucking great..." My eyes roved over more of the redecorated tree house. In the years since I had left it seemed that these squatters had been busy. Furs, horns and claws adorned the walls. An alarming amount of swords and other assorted battle wear. Decrepit posters of movies and bands whose memory that girl had outlived by a long shot. A giant stack of broken computers probably used as parts for the game system that I had been playing with earlier. The whole house smelled like, for lack of a better word energy and adventure and pancakes with bacon.

Well you know how that story ends, I pick myself up and decide to follow "That Human Girl", play fight her in the cave that, unfortunately for her, was one of my safe houses on the top world, kiss her and we all go our separate ways right? Not really, the problem was that after that I began to spend altogether too much time with someone who you couldn't get me to admit that I cared for if you held me at stake-point. Thus building up to the incident at LSP's party at the beginning of the summer.

Now that you're pretty much all caught up, where was I...oh yeah

I had finally gotten to Fionna's bedroom and had gotten one of my demon faces ready to freak her out with. I then decided to amp up the fear factor by slamming open the door 3...2...1 *BAM* I jumped in the room hissing and spitting through rows of teeth only to find... it was completely empty.

Feeling kind of gipped I turned around to go look for Fionna when I found yself confronted by a furious looking cat holding up a bowl full of marble white cherries. "Oh hi Cake," I said nonchalantly " thanks for the snack by the way, where's Fionna hiding?" Her eyebrows got even fluffier as she bellowed out "Them cherries were a gift from Mochro Marshall lee!" "Hey calm down kitty, I just sucked the red out it's not like you can't eat them." I said "White cherries ain't no use to anybody, it's like they've had their cherry souls drained!" "And what did you mean where's Fionna hiding? She's in her room taking a nap."

"Au contraire," I said as I gestured to the open door, "Fionna is no where to be found."


	4. Where Would a Rabbit Go?

" WHAT THE FLUFF!" Screeched the two tone cat who, in her panic leapt up and started scratching at my face. "WHERE IS FIONNA YOU SHAGGY HAIRED VAMPIRE!"

"I have no idea-" I spat out trying to pry her claws out of my face.

"Well if you didn't take her where is she?" "If I knew where she was why would I have come here?"

"Well I guess you have a point Marshall lee." she said with a puzzled look on her face. "Think back," I said "do you remember her saying any thing about going out or needing something?" "If I knew that I would already be there!" she said, furrowing her eyebrows rather menacingly for such a fluffy cat.

"Alright, alright," I sighed, "Lets calm down think, if we were Fi where would we go."

"Humph, Well she might have gone over to the Candy Kingdom, I think she said something about helping Gumball with one of his experiments or some jazz like that."

"Of course, she's at Gum wad's palace of sickening sweetness." I said giving a none too subtle eye roll at the thought of the sticky prince.

"Oh shush," chastised the cat, "Grab your little umbrella, hop on my back and lets go!"

"You know I can float right?" "GET ON MY BACK!"

_En route to Candy Kingdom_

"I swear, this place gets more and more pathetic every time I lay eyes on it."

As the waffle cone castle came closer and closer on the horizon and I smelled the warm sugar on the air. I took my last breath of slightly palpable surface air for a while.

_"Why in the hell does she always go running to him in every free moment ?"_ I wondered to myself. _"It's not as if he can see past his own nose let alone care about anything other than spying on every one from here to the plains."_

Unbeknownst to Fiona and anyone else without basic suspicion a certain pink prince has his own little camera network all over Aaa. It would take a smoother trick than that to get one over on the Vampire King. I took the lenses out of the camera a long time ago and play old tapes of me doing nothing in particular.

My personal life is my own damn business and the explicit details of it would probably give the snoopy bastard a heart attack if he ever got a look.

With a snarky grin at my own wit we arrived at the marzipan gates of his kingdom of weird.

"Well strawberry boy, lets get looky louing!" announced Cake "We should start at the castle, maybe look around the stables..."

"Uh uh kitty, aint no way I'm standing around in the searing sun while you talk to your boyfriend." I protested. "HUMPH, FINE!"

It was a short walk to the castle, considering that when the candy people got a good look at me they went scampering into their gingerbread houses so we were soon at the castle doors.

"KNOCKETY KNOCK BABIES!" bellowed Cake. "Or you know, you could just knock..." I said before receiving a rather impressive stink eye.

The large pretzel door creaked opened and I was greeted by the sight of a familiar mint candy maid and loyal servant of the darkness.

"Greetings Master Marshall and Lady Cake, what may I do for you two today?"

"We need to see Prince Gumball and ask him if he's seen Fiona today, by the way have _you_ seen Fiona today?" said Cake.

"I can't say I have Lady Cake but follow me and I will bring you to his royal highness" she said with a curtsey "May I take your umbrella Master Marshall?" "Naw, I got it." I said slinging the heavy bone and monster leather umbrella over my shoulder. "Now lead the way."

After a brisk walk through a few narrow passage ways we arrived at a rather out of place looking thick lead door. I briefly wondered how many failed experiments had flung themselves against this door before being scrapped by their benevolent maker. At least that was a slightly better end than the painful half-life most of his successful experiments ended up living, exhibit A being Lemongrab.

With a final brief hope that I wouldn't find Fi in there I reached up and knocked on the door hard enough to wake the dead. A few moments later the door swung opened to reveal a grinning Gumball.

"Well Hello everyone! What can I do for y- what are you doing here Marshall lee?" "What up Gummy?" I drawled "lets cut right to the chase candy boy, have you seen Fiona?"

"Why I neve-" "Yeah, yeah, yeah _Oh Marshall lee how uncouth, bla bla blabbity blabbity bla.." _I mimed in falsetto.

"Well, all manners aside I did see Fiona today as a matter of fact, she came in early this morning I believe she was curious about finding a map of some old region of Aaa."

"Well that makes this simple, where was she headed?" Interjected Cake. "Let's see, if I remember correctly she was looking for a detailed map of the Dark Forest that's to the Southeast of here."

"What in the hell would she want with a map to there?" I said "It's not like there's anything good in that forest, let alone any one good to need saving."

"That's exactly what I said," exclaimed the prince who turned and started rustling through his shelves "but she seemed very insistent on going, she wouldn't tell me what she was going in for though, just kept saying she was doing it for a friend."

"Here's the map I gave her." he said, rolling a charred map across the steel table. "How do you still have the map if you gave it to Fiona?" asked Cake. "Don't be silly Cake," he said as he weighted the corners of the paper "I ran her off a copy of it, what kind of person would go giving out maps willy-nilly?"

"Clearly not some one with the words _willy-nilly_ in their vocabulary" I shot at him. "Quite clearly." he replied tersely back in my direction. "Anyway I was in the process of explaining the map when she saw this section right...about... here, she suddenly got very excited and asked for a copy of the map right away and as soon as I handed to her she thanked me and ran out the door."

As the three of us leaned over the map and looked to where Gumball was pointing my heart sank all the way from my chest through the Vampire Kingdom and straight into the Night-O-Sphere.

"Maja's territory." I whispered.

_Hello strawberries! I hadn't updated this in a while and was thinking of just trashing it and starting a new one. But then I got a bunch of alerts about people following the story! I was really happy that people had read what I wrote and had liked it so I decided to work on a bigger chapter than I had been doing ._

_ Please review and tell me what you think, criticism and brutal honesty are very welcome. Believe me, responses mean someone took the time to read it and are the best thing to spur me to write more. I hope you liked this chapter and previous ones, the plot is starting to thicken a bit and writing more people in is fun and challenging . See you next time!_


	5. Wandered into a Rabbit Trap

Marshall's POV:

"FUCK!" I cursed, "Are you fucking kidding me?" Out of all of Aaa she could wander into she chooses Maja's territory. Of the few places on the top world were I wasn't guaranteed a victory Maja's forest was the one I avoided most fervently. Not only was he a warlock of power almost as equal to mine, a Vampire King as I am willing to admit, but he was a veritable expert at playing dirty pool and using whoever was at hand to get whatever he wanted. His favorite tactic seemed to be using the people closest to a person to destroy them.

I remembered when he had lured Ashley into handing over my most prized possession in exchange for a new wand. It was insanely easy for him to exchange a mere twig for a emotionally charged teddy bear belonging to the only living heir to the Vampire Kingdom.

If one was to use hambo to his fullest potential it could mean devastation for not only the top world, but the Vampire Kingdom as well. Let me explain, I could bore you with a long explanation on the possessive properties of objects with extreme amounts of emotional charge.

But the long and short of it is basically this, if you love something enough, and hold it very dear to you, you imbue the object with a little bit of yourself. Nothing too major, like a piece of your soul or anything like that. More like an imprint of it, in a sort, just enough for certain people to soul whisper you with it.

Now what is soul whispering you might ask, well you've probably heard about things like voodoo controlling people with pieces of hair and bone, this is pretty much the same thing. A person would take the object with the soul imprint of you, they would set up a simple portal, just like the kind you would take to get to the Night-O-Sphere or any where else you would like to go, the person would then set the emotionally charged object as the destination for the portal, then proceed to go through the portal.

"But that wouldn't do anything." you're probably thinking, "An object isn't a place." Wrong guess buckko, because what does a portal do whean it doesn't have a tangible destination? It searches for the closest tangible match to the coordinates it was given. And if it's coordinates was the imprint of a persons soul it would then try to connect you to that persons soul, and if said person was in close enough proximity, say fifty feet or so, it would work.

The whole thing is a fairly new idea as far as control spells go. About two hundred years ago a couple of warlocks were experimenting with the perfect mind control spell when they stumbled on it. At first it seemed like there were no negative effects when they tried it on lower life forms like rats and fluffy people. But when it came time for a humanoid trial those intrepid little assholes got a rude awakening.

The soul can't be outside the body for too long even under prime conditions like the way a demon might collect one. But when someone fucking teleports into your consciousness it sends your soul rocketing out of your body and pretty much destroys all the ties that keep your soul in your body. Whereas the one who did the teleporting has complete control of what used to be your body. They could make you say or do anything they felt like and when they were done all they would have to do is get close enough to their own body to step back into it.

If you don't get it by now I'm done explaining, It basically means that if he got within fifty feet of me Maja could shove my soul out of my body and use it to do whatever he felt like. Whether it was to declare himself the new king of the Vampire Kingdom or use my power to conquer Aaa, I had no idea what his sick little agendas were.

But the most unsettling part was that since he had acquired Hambo he had never made a move. I hadn't seen hide nor hair of the motherfucker in about fifty years, and I couldn't go looking for him to settle the score because by the time I could reach him he would most probably be all set up to kill me.

And thus we come to my dilemma, do I charge into the forest to save my troublesome bunny, or do I sit around and wait for Maja to find and kill her.

_We meet again strawberries! This one took a while to write since I needed some goods ideas to move the plot along. Sorry this is such a short chapter and that it's like 99.9 percent explanation. But it needed to happen, if it helps imagine sexy teacher Marshall with glasses and a black button down explaining it. lol_

_Another, much more exciting, chapter should be out if not tonight then tomorrow . Please review and tell me what you think, more reviews get me to write chapters faster. Thank you very much for reading!_


	6. Little Bunnies should Watch for Wolves

Fiona's POV:

Earlier that morning

I woke up stuck to the sheets with sweat, the early morning air wafting through the window was already warm with the summer heat. All I had to do was put on my bra, skirt and hat. In the hot season I usually forwent my orange sleepers and just pulled off half of my clothes before going to bed.

Cake was still sleeping hard in her little drawer so I tiptoed down the stairs and past a snoozing BMO to sit out on the porch behind the willow branches.

It was a pretty sight, the early summer sun shining through the tiny leaves of the willow and hitting the porch in little rays, the rustling of the breeze. I had almost fallen back to sleep when I saw dark shape coming closer on the horizon. I shook off the sleep and strained my eyes to see what it was.

As it came closer it became clear that it was a person. It looked like they were heading straight for the treehouse so I stood up and decided to go out to meet them. I burst out of the protection of the willow tree and jogged quickly to the figure.

I was an ancient old dude wearing a big black cloak that vaguely reminded me of the one that Marshall wears when he goes out in the daytime. His was huge and heavy with a shiny, silvery fastener that he said was called platinum. This man's was battered and patched but did just as good a job of covering his face as Marshall's did.

"Hey Dude," I said as I came up to him " Whatcha doing out so early?" He stopped suddenly and croaked out "Are you the Fiona, the adventurer of Aaa?" "Yeah, that's me, do you need help with anything quest-wise?" Ignoring my question he asked "And are you acquainted with his royal highness the Vampire King?"

"You mean Marshall lee?" I wondered what this guy could have to do with Marshall. Most of his friends tended to be demons, ghosts and the like, things that stayed young looking like he did, but this dude could probably remember when the Enchiridion was written by the looks of him.

"Yep, I know him, he's like one of my best buds." As soon as I said it, just for a second, I thought I could see him smile. But as soon as I had thought it, it was gone. "Good, Good, his royal highness's mother, Mrs. Hannah Abbadeer, and I go very far back and I come here upon her request."

Her name is _Hannah _? I thought of the last time I had seen Mrs. Abbadeer...

It was after Cake had gotten the camera phone. We woke up on the floor of a cage in a Nigh-O-Sphere jail covered in bananas. What followed was a horrible week working our way backwards and waiting in lines to try and figure out what had happened and how to get to Marshall lee.

It had been kinda weird seeing Marshall around his mom. The first time I met her after she had gone on a soul sucking rampage, but followed it up with a heartfelt apology I had figured that she was mostly evil with a little good. But after seeing how normal she could be around him. It started to seem more and more like she loved him a lot more than either of them would say.

I'll admit, possessing someone to try and get them to take over the family business is pretty weird. But she had said that that was how she had learned, so maybe she just didn't know any better than that. It's not like she went out of her way to make Marshall unhappy, and she seemed to have a begrudging truce with me on account of Marshall lee and I's friendship.

My curiosity was peaked, "What does Mrs. Abbadeer want with me?" I asked. "Her illustriousness asks a favor of you, master Marshall had a certain stuffed animal when he was young that he was very much attached too, unfortunately, it was sold to a warlock by accident." "Mrs. Abbadeer desires that it be retrieved so as to be given to young Master Marshall as an apology of sorts." Said the old man.

"Unfortunately she herself is unable to use her powers to the fullest while on the surface world, she thought that seeing as how you and his highness are such good friends you might be willing to help her mend bridges with her son." He said with slightly more intensity.

Marshall had mentioned his teddy bear to me once before. It was late at night on a full moon. We had just gotten out of an old tomb that had needed monsters cleared out so that the souls could go to rest and stop scaring peeps all over Aaa.

"I'm glad that all the soul buddies got to rest in peace." I said swinging my sword into my backpack for the walk home "I just don't know why they didn't in the first place though, I wonder why they cared so much about what was going on around their bods, it's not like they lived in them anymore."

"I guess they were just real attached to them," said Marshall lee flipping onto his back in midair "It's kind of funny what keeps people tied to this world, things that they used to own and think that they still do."

As he said it he got look on his face like he was remembering something sad. It made me want to change the subject "Well when I kick it I want some little animals to live in my hat, like mice or something like that." I said playfully.

My attempt to lighten the mood didn't work at all, if anything he just looked even more sad.

"Okay." he said quietly.

"What?" I asked, looking back at him over my shoulder. "When you're gone I'll make sure that animals can use your hat as a house." He murmured softly looking sadly at me.

It was then that I realized why he looked so sad, it had happened to him so many times that he knew exactly what was going to happen when I died. It was like he sang about when Cake and I were hiding in his closet. Everyone around him ages and dies like normal, but he would always be the same. He didn't even get to grow old with his friends.

Before I could say anything back to him he started talking again "I mean even this Vampire King has some things he's attached to." "Like this teddy bear I had when I was a kid this..., this really good friend of mine gave him to me_._" "God, I loved that thing, I named him Hambo." "I must have dragged every where with me." He laughed quietly looking up at the night sky, the moon reflected perfectly into his dark eyes.

"What ever happened to it?" I asked, I had never heard Marshall talk about himself this much not in song form.

"Oh, this girl I knew sold it for a wand." He answered, without looking down from the sky. "That was pretty mean." I said, not knowing what else to say. "Yeah, I wish I could see it one more time." "It was the last thing I had left from that friend, I guess I just miss it." You could hear the melancholy in his voice.

"Is Hambo the only thing your attached to here?" I wondered out loud.

As soon as he heard me he stopped floating on his back and glided silently closer to me. He stopped about three feet above me and leaned down until his face was an inch or two away from my face. I could feel the cool puffs of his breath on my cheeks. His eyes looked much darker as he looked deeply in mine. They were really beautiful to look at, mostly charcoal colored but around the edges they were a really striking red, like the red of a fresh sword nick. The color dripped into the rest or his cornea at points. The effect was utterly mesmerizing.

Then quietly but clearly he said a single "No."

It didn't take long to make my decision. Looking back at the hunched over man I said, "Alright old dude, so where does this warlock guy live?"

_Hooray! I told ya strawberries that there would be another chapter up! I finished it before midnight too! This one's from Fiona's POV. I thought she would be much harder to write than Marshall lee but after I got used to it she started to flow pretty naturally. Five bucks to guess who the old geezer in the cloak is haha._

_Next chapter should be up within the week and will probably be from Marshall lee's POV but might be a mix of both him and Fiona. Please review and tell me what you think, brutal honesty is very welcome. Thank you so much for reading!_


	7. A Bunny gets Lost in the Woods

Marshall lee's POV:

I'll admit it, I have a bit of an... _anger issue_. I have been known to snap from time to time. But you know, for someone of Royal Vampire and Prime Demon heritage I'm actually one chill motherfucker.

Take a half-something-or-other on my Moms side, one of the few Prime Demons ever able to boast eating an entire island. People, buildings and all. Yet another Great Grandfather on my dad's side used to take his (usually) drained corpses and impale and prostrate them on spears in front of his castle on the top world.

I mean, other than occasional unmerciful dismemberment of my prey and tending to go a bit overboard when it comes to displays of power in the Vampire Kingdom. But if you don't scare the living shit out of people every now and then the assignation attempts tend to to get out of hand.

Now that that's explained, I can hardly be faulted for what I did next. Which was to punch a steel bookshelf in half.

"MARSHALL LEE!" "_Marshall lee!"_ "Master Marshall!"

"WHAT!?" I turned and hissed. "Marshall lee, that bookshelf was full of ancient maps that are the only ones of their kind." wailed the pink prince. "Shut up! I've got more things to worry about than your damn maps." "Fiona just wandered into one of the most dangerous places in all of Aaa and the proud owner of said estate has bigger problem with me than even you candy boy!"

"Who the hell are you talking about Marshall lee, I know that forest is pretty wacked but Fiona's a big girl who can whoop some butt." asked Cake incredulously.

I floated up a few feet and flipped on my back "Believe me kitty, neither of you have ever seen anything like this guy before." I said pinching the bridge of my nose. "He's a warlock and believe me he's not the type to take kindly to a bunny wandering into his territory."

"What business could Fiona have there anyway?" asked the Prince "I have no fucking idea." I growled "But some serious shit is about to go down if I don't go stop her."

With that I snatched the map off the table, flew out of the still open blast door and throwing my cloak over my face burst out into the punishing daylight.

"Dammit bunny, just sit tight and don't do anything stupid till I get there." I said under my breath, "Now let's just hope I can get there in time."

Fiona's POV:

earlier that day

It was still morning and I was running the route southeast of the Candy Kingdom with the copied map rolled in my hand. I wasn't in too much of a hurry, Cake had passed out on the porch and nobody but Prince Gumball knew where I was going. Gumball seemed to be pretty busy with his science junk so I was sure he wouldn't want to tag along.

I guess I just liked running to get there faster, I never have been one to wait around when it comes to adventures. It was about a two hour trek at the speed I was going and as my feet pounded the dusty road I thought back to earlier that morning.

After I agreed to help him, Mrs. Abbadeer's old friend told me that the warlock who had Marshall lee's teddy bear lived in dark forest to the south of the treehouse. He advised me to try and find a more detailed map of the dark forest than the one in the Enchiridion.

With that the old fart turned tail and said he was going to report to Mrs. Abbadeer. I stood there a while before realizing that Cake was most likely up and fluffy about the fact that I wasn't around to eat breakfast with her.

I stood there for a second, the morning air wrapping around me before running back into the treehouse. After a quick breakfast with Cake and a mumbled explanation about needing a nap and Gumball being busy with experiments that day I ran up the stairs and into the bedroom. After shutting the door I grabbed my backpack and through a leg out of the window.

One short fall later I was on the ground and on my way to the Candy Kingdom to find the person most likely to have a map.

Done with my flash back I looked down at the map and from the looks of it I was almost there. Rolling the map back up I pressed on faster.

A few minutes later I came up on the clump of giant trees covered in some kind thorn bush, I slowed down and walked up to it. "Well, it's not like it's made of steel..." I muttered pulling my sword out of my back pack. Squaring my shoulders and planting my feet. I started hacking at the scary looking at the bush, but as soon as the sword touched the plant all the vines and leaves around trembled and flashed red.

"Hmmm...?" Giving it a few more experimental pokes and getting the same reaction I started to feel a little bad. Leaning in I began awkwardly petting the prickly shrub. "Alright, Alright, I'm sorry." I said "I'll stop poking you." As soon as my hand touched the plant it gave off a weird high pitched hum and suddenly it felt like I was being pulled from the other side of the hedge.

"WOAH!" I yelled "Hey wai-" And with that I was dragged through the shrub.

"Uhhhh... thanks a lot ya stupid bush." Rubbing my head I took a look around and found myself on a small path surrounded by gnarled looking trees. Upon closer inspection the trees were decorated with hundreds of little voodoo dolls. "Creepy... well at least I'm on the right track, looks like it's pretty much a straight shot from here to the warlock's place." With that I stood up, patted the dirt off my skirt and peered down the road. It was completely black up ahead except for pairs of glinting eyes blinking in the dark. I knew the house was at the very least eight miles away, but I could almost swear I saw it in the distance. I may have had some doubts about being in a forest that was locked from the outside, not having Cake with me and running an errand for Marshall's mom and a creepy dude in a cloak, but when I thought about how happy Marshall would look when he saw Hambo and, how maybe, knowing that it came from his mom might make him even happier I shook off my indecision and started striding purposefully down the road.

Narrative

As Fiona progressed down the road a small black shape emerged from one of the trees she had passed. The tiny fluffy creature let out a strange caw and flapping it's wings took to the air. Breaking over the tree line the black crabbit didn't have much of a flight before coming to the reflection house hidden in the mirror lake. After a nauseating swim/fall it managed to chuck itself in through an open window and flop onto the floor.

"Wheeze..., Milord!" Gasped the crabbit shifting into a humanoid form. "What the hell are you going on about " screeched someone from the other room. "Milord, the girl, she has arrived."

"Hmph, you call that news you fool, of course she's here, the simpleton fell right through the sleeping gate bramble and into my lap." said the person in the other room as the crabbit slouched through the hallway and came to a stop at an open doorway. In the room a hunched figure stood over a bright blue crystal bowl. The bowl contained a slivery liquid that stood eerily still as shining smoke poured out of the sides. In the liquid you could make out a blurry refection of Fiona walking briskly through the dark forest. Running his palm over the misty concoction the warlock murmured _"Ostende mihi Lamia Rex." _And the image in the bowl shimmered and changed into a reflection of a Marshall lee covered in a black umbrella arguing with Cake on the way to the Kingdom of Candy.

"Master Maja, shouldn't you begin preparations on the portal, even for you it wouldn't be wise for the Vampire King to catch you unaware." asked the crabbit meekly. "Shut up, I've got plenty of time until her knight in blood red armor comes crashing in to save her, and in the meantime I can't think of a better way to kill a few hours than watching a young "hero" walk right into my clutches." said the figure turning towards his familiar.

It was a gangly young man with wiry brown hair pulled back so tight it made the corners of his face pull up rather disturbingly. He was clothed in an ugly pea green tunic tied with a shaman's belt. Around his shoulders hung a dark cloak patched and faded, the bottom half was powered with dust from his morning excursion to the grasslands of Aaa to a unsuspecting adventurer's treehouse.

_What up sugar bunnies? I finally finished the newest chapter with not one, not two, but THREE points of view! Big thanks to faithykin5, CakeOfMischief13 and Estatichamster1 and everyone else who's read, followed or favorited! Please review and give your thoughts, brutal honesty is welcome. If nothing else is up before the 10th of this month then it will probably be another week before there are any new chapters, summer road tripping and all. Thank you so much for reading!_


	8. The Trap Snaps Shut

Marshall lee's POV:

"I swear when I find her I'm kicking Maja's ass then dragging Fiona's where I can keep a fucking eye on it I mean, who does she think she is scaring." I muttered hauling tail across the desert. "Wait a damn minute... _scaring ... _where the hell the did that come from, quando lepores exire incensa Silvestre?"

Shaking off any and all touchy-feely thoughts about Fiona I concentrated on the task at hand...Which would probably end with me a shriveled, soulless husk and even more dead than usual. I wonder if I would be doing this if it wasn't my fault Maja was targeting her. As soon as that thought crossed my mind it was followed my another, of how the impaled an dismembered corpses of Maja's victims looked as they dried out and were picked apart for organs while nailed up against splintered boards in his study. Then _that _was followed by the image of Fiona tripping her way into that nightmare with Maja waiting at the end of her road with open arms and empty cauldrons.

Now that one made my fangs elongate, I could feel them go from pricking my bottom lip to hanging slightly past it. The familiar feeling of my poison sacs filling and pressing slightly against my sinus cavity. The itchy burning feeling that accompanied was supposed to spur me into going...how do I put this politely..._feeding_, served only to make me angrier.

"FUCK AROUND!" I cursed, poison dripping out of my fang tips and, even all these years after I hit puberty and it started coming in, burning me slightly as the clear liquid ran down my chin. It only slightly stung me but on any prey of mine it would have already started working it's way under their skin and coursing through their veins.

"Fuck around," I growled wiping the venom from my chin "At this rate she'll be dead by the time I get there." Kicking up my speed the wind went whipping past my face so fast my eyes started tearing up. A few moments later a large clump of ancient trees came into view, gnarled and blackened from years of exposure to dark magic and evil miasma, they probably had become malevolent beings themselves.

Touching down at the base of the trees I advanced forward on foot so I could get beneath the underbrush and to the innumerable paths beneath. I made to part the thorny shrub growing high around the area when it flashed red and made an unpleasant shrieking noise.

"Geh, how the hell did Fiona get through this thing." I said testing other areas and getting assaulted by the bush's warbling shriek. "Damn it! If a bunny can get past this than so can a Vampire King, now come ON!" "Think like Fiona... oh shut up!" I said leaning back against the plant ignoring it's protests. Concentrating harder I could smell Fiona's sent, just barely there from the wind and the time passed since she had been there, but still enough to confirm that she had been there. The soft, heady scent was as a drug to me and I closed my eyes. It smelled sweet, not sickly sweet like a certain someone's candy monsters, but lightly sweet and dusky - like the scent of night lilies on the evening breeze in the Vampire Kingdom. A scent I had always favored, especially since there was a large field of them growing not to far from the east tower of the castle where I had spent most of my early childhood and my limited time with my father before his passing.

Reminiscing about such pleasant things I let out a sigh and with a rustling sound was suddenly over come with the feeling of falling.

"Son of a bi-" I exclaimed not being ready for the sudden decent.

*BAM*

"Damn it straight to hell... Gah, I hurt my fucking back, haven't done that in a while."

Looking around as I floated back to my feet, I threw back my hood and ran a hand through my hair. Being able to stand the dim near darkness that permeated the entire forest. In fact, in this devilish environment so perfectly equipped for all things dark and creepy the only thing that really bothered me was the overpowering press of Maja's miasma. Even though he wasn't a demon his being a warlock and practicing his dark magic for so long in this place had smelled the whole forest up. If I hadn't have memorized Fiona's scent so well it would have been quite the task to pick it up out of all the smoky fumes.

With time running out I fixed my eyes on the path that led in the direction of Maja's house. One look at it told me all I needed to know. It was clean and any sort of monster worth mentioning had been warned far away by painfully sharp scent of exorcism water splashed on either side of the trail. I was completely sure that Maja's lair would be set up and trapped out the ass. And of what and who would be in it waiting for me in it I couldn't be sure. But as the press of my poison sacs became more intense and my top lip curled up in what I could imagine was probably a menacing snarl I thought to myself, "I'll rip the fools bowels from his belly, it's not as if this wasn't going to happen anyway, and now I've got a score to settle with this mother fucker."

Letting out a dark chuckle I levitated up towards the top of the tree line so as to be harder to track. It was approaching twilight and in the world outside of the forest the sun was in it's last phase of setting. Looking up as the red completely stained my eyes and my lips and finger tips faded from blue to black I let my power run rampant as I shot off into the deep forest eve.

"Soon..."

_Hey strawberries! It's been to damn long! My journey was long and arduous but I have returned at long last! Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and follows! Sorry this chapter was such a short one but as the name of the chapter implies everyone is gearing up for the final battle. I've always kind of liked the idea of vampires having poison fangs and the idea of their venom coming in when they went through puberty just seemed make sense, all puns aside. More along the lines of vampire biology in later chapters. Please review and as always brutal honesty is welcome. Thank you all so much for being patient with me and I will see you soon!_


	9. A Sky Warlock's Lair

Fiona's POV:

I was almost all the way down the winding path surrounded by trees that supposedly led to Maja's house when the forest suddenly opened up into clearing with small pond at the center. Upon closer inspection I found that the path led directly into the small lake. The lake, while diminutive in size, was incredibly clear and reflected the sky above it with a mirror-like quality. "Well that's kinda weird." I said looking at the sudden end to the path. I walked up to the very edge of the lake where the path seemed to suddenly end. Looking closer I found that the path didn't just end, but instead led right on into the water and stopped in the middle of the shallow pond. "I wonder..." I mused quietly, slowly taking off my shoes and slipping off one long sock at a time. "Glob, I hope there's no leeches or anything in there." I said stuffing my socks into my black paten leather shoes and setting them side by side next to the edge of the water.

Breathing out a sigh and hoping I was right, I slowly started walking straight down the path and into the water. The further I went in, the harder it was to touch my feet to the bottom. By the time I reached the middle of the pond I was treading water, with my feet only occasionally scraping the sandy grit of the path below.

Swallowing back the nervousness that accompanied the feeling of not being able to touch the bottom I treaded harder and tried to catch my breath. "_Hhagh_, calm down, _gasp_, it's not the ocean, I'm, _choke_, gonna be okay." I sputtered squirming to try and touch the bottom. Trying to catch my breath I felt something odd. Through all my splashing and paddling the surface of the water had barley changed at all. And instead of foaming up I felt a tug as the still, glassy water started slowly but surely pulling me down.

"_Gagh_! Stop it!" I spat out struggling to keep my face above water. As my head dipped below the surface and my ears filled with the oddly cold liquid. Fighting the constant tug of the freezing water became harder and harder. I barley felt it when my hat come loose and only noticed when I saw my long hair float into my vision. Much later it occurred to me how weird it was that the bottom of the lake just disappeared. I kicked my feet wildly and reached out my hands to grab at something, anything as my breath came out in large silvery bubbles.

"Oh glob, oh glob..." I screamed in my head and my sight started to go black around the edges.

_**Relax, just breath out and keep your eyes open**_

What? No, I'm drow-

_**Shut up human, and breath out or else you really will drown**_

___Fiona! Is that you? Where are you_-

But it was too late, I had let out my last breath and closed my eyes, prepared to fall into unconscious.

But instead of passing out I was overcome with the feeling of falling. Opening my eyes I nearly vomited at the horrible flipping sensation, as, instead of sinking I was suddenly falling. All around me was the sky that in the lake's reflection. What I was falling towards was an out of place looking house suspended in midair over the same lake that I had just nearly drowned in.

"AAARRRGH!"

And with another sickening flip I suddenly became _much_ closer the lawn of the afore mentioned house.

**_THUMP_**

"Gasp... pant." I struggled to catch my breath while I lay panting on my back. "Oh, cram it to the butternuts... that one's gonna hurt tomorrow." I slowly sat up and turned around to take in my surroundings. I was sitting on the lawn of a decrepit looking old house covered in peeling paint with the shutters all boarded up. "Well if this isn't the place I don't know what is." I muttered, standing up and brushing the dirt off the back of my skirt.

I hesitated slightly before grabbing hold of the triangle shaped knocker with the creepy eyeball in the middle of it. But squaring my shoulders and remembering who I was doing this for I grabbed hold of the knocker and slammed it three times.

"Maja the Sky Warlock! Are you home?" I called up into the house, "I need to talk to your face!"

As if in response the heavy door creaked open just far enough for me to squeeze through. I eased my shoulders through first, "Hello...?" Stepping fully into the darkened house I was overcome with a deep feeling of dread. "Hello..., I need to talk to you about getting something for a friend of mine, his name's Marshall lee."

"_**Welcome human, I've been waiting for you**_."

**_ SLAM_**

Below in the same lake, a reflection of a house was set squarely in the middle. And if one was to look closely at it you could see the door of the house slam shut.

_Hello strawberries! It's been a while since I updated, hopefully this one is a little better than the last one. That was in fact, Marshall trying to tap Fi's mind link with Maja and warn her but more on that later. Big thanks to Spiriteg, CakeofMischief, faithykin5 and everyone else who's read followed or favorited. I've been in a bit of a creative slump recently but a message and review really turned it around! I'm in a real story writing mood so there should be another chapter up before too long. This is shaping up to be one hell of a long story but I hope you all enjoy it!_ _Please review and give me your thoughts, brutal honesty is always welcome!_


	10. The Road to Hell

p data-p-id="be775b7192f9fb5e86747181d855bd44"The road to hell is paved with good intentions/p  
p data-p-id="3cc67aa87db40fba013f524cb94c3968" /p  
p data-p-id="58597f62fc889f19d227e360a2101b22"Marshall's POV:/p  
p data-p-id="d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e" /p  
p data-p-id="760af6e96091ec50a46309cdb48756a1" The wind screamed through my ears as I barreled through the forest not even trying to conceal myself. I had finally been able to tune into Fiona's mind through the dense miasma of the forest. Trying to hear someone's thoughts through all of it was like trying to play darts from fifty feet away with your eyes closed. Hearing her terrified and desperate thoughts whisper in my ears over and over again while I screamed through the trees so fast my eyes started to tear up with the light pink liquid that comes from so much red in one's diet. I wasn't able to catch much before the link was cut from an outside source but I heard enough to confirm one thing. Fiona was scared. Fi is many things, Powerful, brave, loving, beautiful but as far as I'm concerned scared is not one of them dammit./p  
p data-p-id="2281e0b0966c550fd01dffdbe92c2d13" With that I burst into a grassy clearing and scanned the area before I zeroed in on what I was looking for. A two-sided lake, one of the oldest ones in the book. Someone would have to be pretty confident that nobody with even a inkling of magic knowledge would venture near to conceal their fortress with such a flimsy illusion. The glass-like water didn't move as I smoothly dove headfirst into the lake and opened my eyes as soon as I felt the sensation of falling. Slowing my decent I flipped myself quickly in mid-air before touching down on the Bermuda grass covered lawn of Maja's house of death as it were./p  
p data-p-id="864e1b7d3abe64f660c3b27c5821ad3c" Allowing myself a second, I listened closely for something, anything in the slightest, but was met with only eerie silence. Not even the sound of a heart beat could be heard from within the plaster walls. I looked the place over, pushing the thought that I might be burning through my last minuets alive out of my mind. After quick deliberation I decided that the best course of action would probably be to burst through one of the upper windows and do a Hail-Mary of a rush down to the basement where his lab probably was. It wasn't the best plan but I figured it was better than just waltzing through the front door. With that I squared my feet against the ground and shot up though the diamond shaped second floor window in a spray of glass. Barely registering my cluttered surroundings I breathed deep and caught Fiona's fear soaked scent coming from lower level of the house as I had expected. Wasting no time I bulleted through the door and down the long, carpeted flight of stairs faster than the mortal eye could see following faint scent./p  
p data-p-id="a78f671f0a29a82cc3698d2f343e8a28" I reached the basement and threw open the door with a slam. A muffled cry came from the corner of the room, but before I even had time to turn my head, I was circled by a blinding light with the familiar searing pain that accompanied a powerful demon repelling border. While I buckled in agony, my eyes darted to the corner of the room where I saw Fiona, gagged and struggling against her bonds with a few bruises here and there, but still very much alive. And as I blacked out I was overcome with, of all things, a wave of relief./p  
p data-p-id="26478db11a74b3c8675f463fee30cba7" /p  
p data-p-id="564700f2c803f6e9ae54803616ad9b3a" I woke up to the salty smell of tears and an incoherent mess of sound. I stirred slowly as my joints and head throbbed in protest, it had been a long time since I was hit with a holy border that powerful, let alone run right into one. As I tried to separate my heavy eyelids the indistinguishable mumbling started to sharpen and I made out two distinct voices, one gloating and cracking occasionally, the other gut wrenchingly familiar as protested and let out the occasional quiet sob./p  
p data-p-id="0319a63e6c7f8ad39e347d25998d35d5" "LET HIM GO GLOBDAMMIT!" rang in my ears as Fiona screamed in a raspy voice from her spot in the corner. Doing my best not to alert anyone to my conciseness I slowly tried to moved my wrists; the small movement caused rather uncomfortable tightening around my neck and ankles. Immediately regretting the decision, I focused instead on getting my numb face to start respond. I managed to peel apart my eyelids and from under my black lashes I could begin to see blurry outline of the foul smelling basement. The watery image started to sharpen I could make out two figures, one bent over a large table working furiously on something in my peripheral vison. The other sat at an unnatural angle in the corner of the room across from me, balanced on her knees with her ankles and wrists bound together behind her. Her long golden hair streaming down around her and pooling onto the dirty floor. /p  
p data-p-id="eff817dab78d9f2a00e2b8cf6ff8d03c" "Oh no little adventurer, while I admit your screams are rather pleasing, I have no intention of letting our Vampire King go, at least not in the same condition he came in as, hehehe..." cackled Maja from his work table. "I'll admit it, after acquiring his soul imprint I though I'd have to wait at least a few millennia before he slipped up enough for me to lure him in here."/p  
p data-p-id="f0af75e4ec7a4f846ddd86ee1e1b87e8"Putting down what he was fiddling with Maja turned around and leaned back casually, revealing his unpleasant face turned upwards in a thin lipped smile, "But only fifty years later here you come trotting along, as soon as I laid eyes on you with him I knew he would walk right into my hand, as long as his sweet littleem bunny/em was on the line."/p  
p data-p-id="4682730021e361b757499ebcdd1b6fd4" Hearing my pet name for Fiona come rolling off his lips was enough to make my eyes go red, but it was what he said afterword that made my world stop./p  
p data-p-id="ca71d56fb2962746df11c2aacdbe9a39" "And to think, with a cheap trick like that I managed to secure not only the Vampire Throne, but the soul imprint of one of the most trusted and beloved people in all of Aaa... It's as if you fools both just handed me the keys to the kingdom."/p  
p data-p-id="4ae77e0858f5010d15fb0d74e3e59df2" As he reached back it hit me why Fiona's hair was loose, as he chuckled and held Fiona's bunny hat up to the light./p  
p data-p-id="cfe201de5943405c840233fec4378a45" /p  
p data-p-id="b7d02b64f9e47354bf0b62bf4c2cd954" /p  
p data-p-id="b5d1d8317fddbfbea1da65db45507b07" em Holy Mary Mother of God it's been a long time since I busted out the ole' keyboard. I've pretty much just been trying to get my shit together for the last month and a half but I had a little burst of creativity the other day and couldn't stop myself. Feel free to tell me what you think, brutal honesty is welcome. Thanks to everyone who has followed and favorited, it means a lot you guys! And thanks to you, who's reading this right now! /em/p 


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